Australia, Torres Strait, Cape York Peninsula
Early to mid 19th century
Coconut
Length: 4.85 in (12.3 cm)
Provenance: John and Marcia Friede Collection, Rye, New York; Jean-Edouard Carlier, Paris
Containers of this type were produced in the Torres Strait to store and transport magical substances used in hunting sea turtles and dugong. These materials could include specific plants, burned bones, dugong grass, fatty compounds, and small bones understood to help attract marine animals by scent or connection. The object belonged to a purposeful class of personal hunting equipment, closely tied to marine knowledge and ritual practice.
The surface is engraved with a fish, turtle, crustaceans, starfish, and a single frog, all rendered in fine incised line against the dark polished ground. At the base, the coconut’s three natural carpel structures have been worked into a schematic ancestral face with pierced eyes, nostrils, and a mouth hollowed through to the interior. The Friede Collection provenance, followed by Jean-Edouard Carlier in Paris, gives the piece a strong documented collecting history.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Australia, Torres Strait, Cape York Peninsula
Early to mid 19th century
Coconut
Length: 4.85 in (12.3 cm)
Provenance: John and Marcia Friede Collection, Rye, New York; Jean-Edouard Carlier, Paris
Containers of this type were produced in the Torres Strait to store and transport magical substances used in hunting sea turtles and dugong. These materials could include specific plants, burned bones, dugong grass, fatty compounds, and small bones understood to help attract marine animals by scent or connection. The object belonged to a purposeful class of personal hunting equipment, closely tied to marine knowledge and ritual practice.
The surface is engraved with a fish, turtle, crustaceans, starfish, and a single frog, all rendered in fine incised line against the dark polished ground. At the base, the coconut’s three natural carpel structures have been worked into a schematic ancestral face with pierced eyes, nostrils, and a mouth hollowed through to the interior. The Friede Collection provenance, followed by Jean-Edouard Carlier in Paris, gives the piece a strong documented collecting history.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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